LOS ANGELES >> Rip Scherer paced the sideline with his arms crossed over the block-lettered “Memphis” on his royal blue starter jacket. The 1996 version of UCLA’s current tight ends coach, whose brown hair had only started thinning, chomped at his chewing gum as he watched the seconds tick off on one of the biggest wins in school history.

Memphis 21, Peyton Manning and No. 6 Tennessee 17. The Tigers’ first win over their in-state rivals in school history.

Fans flooded the field on the final whistle. They scaled the yellow goal posts and toppled them to the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium grass as Scherer’s father, also named Rip, interrupted a live TV interview to wrap his son in a bear hug.

Twenty-one years and six coaching stops later, Scherer will return to the scene of his greatest coaching triumph at 9 a.m. Saturday. As the No. 25 Bruins prepare to face Scherer’s one-time team, the 65-year-old coach is in for a shot of nostalgia with his unwavering competitive spirit.

“It’s a little strange, obviously,” Scherer said of the return. “But also, it’s been 17 years since I was fired from there. A lot of water has gone over the dam. So in a lot of ways, it’s just another game.”

Scherer’s shining moment came in the second year of his six-year tenure as Memphis head coach. The magical November night became one of the few highlights in six consecutive losing seasons. After compiling a 22-44 record, he was fired in 2000.

The Pittsburgh native spent more than two decades climbing toward the coveted Division I head coaching position. He started as a graduate assistant at Penn State from 1974, and in 1975, he reported then-freshman defensive back Tom Bradley to head coach Joe Paterno for acting up in study hall, a slight for which the current UCLA defensive coordinator is still plotting his revenge. Scherer spent 10 years as a head coach — four at James Madison before the Tigers — but never wore the head hat again after Memphis.

Despite the sour ending to his head coaching tenure, Scherer said that time made him a better assistant in the six coaching positions he’s held since. He understands the pressures of the big chair.

“Being in charge of the big picture and having that responsibility is a two-edged sword,” Scherer said of being a head coach. “It’s an immense responsibility, but it’s also something that you work in this business to get to. … But by the same token, the one thing that is more difficult as a head coach is to build those day-to-day relationships.”

Scherer missed those relationships during his two years as UCLA’s associate athletic director for football from 2013-15. The time demands weren’t as much and it was a less stressful way to live, he admitted, but he longed to feel the camaraderie of a locker room and watch small incremental improvements on the practice field blossom into drastic player development.

His experienced eye has been critical in forming UCLA’s formidable tight ends group only two years after the unit’s rebirth within the program. The Bruins roped two four-star tight ends into their 2017 class, sent Nate Iese to the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent, and have a leading receiver in tight end Caleb Wilson (18 catches for 238 yards and one touchdown in two games).

“He’s had an incredible influence on the whole staff and the tight end group,” offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch said of Scherer. “He’s coached at every level, he’s coached every position. … Obviously those tight ends that are here and that will be here are all going to be very lucky to have him.”

Scherer preaches to his players that they are not yet good, only working toward it every day. This weekend, he will try to connect with some former Memphis players who heard those same words as the school hosts its football reunion weekend.

Some will try to stop by UCLA’s team hotel Friday night for a quick catch-up. It’s been about 20 years since he coached them and the memories of their biggest win remain fresh, but Scherer would like to collect another win at the Liberty Bowl.

“The stars came together,” Scherer said wistfully of the 1996 upset before snapping back to attentive coach mode. “But it’s something that you have to guard against. … Memphis is a heck of a program now. They’re much further ahead of where we were when I was there so we know we got a battle on our hands.”

Thuc Nhi Nguyen has covered UCLA for the Southern California News Group since 2016. A proud Seattle native, she majored in journalism and mathematics at the University of Washington. She likes graphs, animated GIFs and superheroes.

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